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Drug abuse and Crime

Drug abuse and its close association with crime has been a topic of public discussion and policy for the better part of the twentieth century. The intensity of the debate, particularly in the past three decades or so, has frequently obscured or deliberately distorted the facts. The resulting confusion and clouded judgment of politicians and policymakers resulting in the so-called "War on Drugs," as well as that of the various components of the criminal justice system--the police, the courts, the prisons, and probation and parole officials--and the mass media, leave average citizens tottering in the wake.

"With or without justification, drug abuse is often cited as a major cause of crime, violence, and family disruption across the United States," researcher Eric D. Wish states in the preface to the May 1992 volume of The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (1992, p. 8). In the aftermath of the cocaine "epidemic" of the 1980s and under the specter of AIDS in the present decade, the public outcry for action by local, state, and federal authorities is putting real pressure on lawmakers to act.

The question which continues to haunt every facet of the debate is, simply, in which direction(s) should we, as a nation, devote our energies and resources to eradicate drug abuse . . . or should we simply give up the fight, admit defeat, and find something else to worry about? This paper will examine some of the contemporary ideas and scholarly research which have attempted to focus attention on the core issues, offer plausible interventions, or propose radical revisions in public policy in the past several years. As Dish (1992) explains:

While much of the federal funding has been used to increase law enforcement efforts to reduce the flow of drugs into and within the United States, substantial increases in funding for research have also occurred. Researchers have learned much about the types of p...

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Drug abuse and Crime. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 07:57, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1708325.html